Edwin's City of Lakes Blog

I made in out of Decorah on Tuesday, which was much milder than Monday. It took me 2 hours 45 minutes which is a record for me. I went to "Jesus is Magic" again last night with Micah and my dad and again laughed a lot. I also saw "Brokeback Mountain" on Wednesday and I recommend it.

Only one more day before Winter Holiday Timeday! (Because I am a liberal who hates faith and all religion [obviously] I will not call it Christmas) How exciting... I have kept my tradition of not finishing all my shopping yet and will be off to IKEA shortly.

I sent an email to the church office suggesting that we sing "Before the Marvel of This Night", which is my favorite Christmas hymn, so we'll see if they have it.

Huzzah! The Minnesota Supreme Court dumped Sue Ek from the 27 December special election ballot.

Meanwhile, I am stranded in Decorah until tomorrow morning due to the cold conditions and the "iffyness" of my car.

A judge has ruled that Sue Ek doesn't meet the requirements to run for the Legislature (Strib version here). My favorite part of this is "Ek claimed she was 'terrible at reading documents like that' and was confused by what she signed." This is a woman who wants to be in the Legislature. The Legislature--you know where they write ? Would someone who gets "confused at reading documents like that" be a good choice for the body that writes the laws that created that document? Ms Ek, just so you know, the Legislature spends much of its time reading dense policy and legal language. The judge didn't buy her story of confusion:
"'The court is unable to understand how a college graduate with degrees in public relations and journalism might have been confused by this simple language,' Stephenson wrote."

If it's true that you actually had trouble with the affidavit, then maybe you should consider a run for Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the intellectual demands are much smaller. If you were on the Park Board you could just spend all your time bickering and working for special interests who want public property transferred to them for their benefit--like DeLaSalle. It would be a good fit I'm sure. You'd better find an apartment to rent or something now though as you wouldn't want to repeat this whole residency debacle. This time also, I would recommend living at the address you claim as your residence.

Still in Decorah. I stayed past the end of finals to work at KWLC. In fact, I write this from KWLC's Centennial Union basement studio.

Apparently my rant about Peter McLaughhlin and how he will never get my vote again was mentioned on StarTribune.com. Wow, first City Pages now the Strib.

President Bush has confirmed that he authorized the NSA to conduct domestic wiretapping without warrents. He also lambasted senators for not renewing the USA PATRIOT Act. Yes, good idea--admit to abusing your powers and then complain that the United States Senate doesn't want to let you keep abusing them.

"The state of California may have extinguished the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, but they have not managed to extinguish the hope for a better world." -  Angela Davis

Peter McLaughlin has lost any and all support from me. I wish I could retract my vote for him for mayor. After losing the mayoral election, he now votes to weaken the Hennepin County smoking ban. Obviously the bar owners of Corcoran and Hanover Township are more important than the health of his constituents. Call him at 612-348-3085 and express your disappointment.

Today is the first day of final exams. I don't have any today but I have a huge project due tomorrow. I am taking a break from working on it right now. Al Franken had a great interview in yesterday's Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Mosquito Control District or whatever they're calling what should be the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He is unsure of his run in 2008, but is moving back to Minnesota. The interview is funny and he makes very good points about how DFLers and Dems need to win on values. Take a look at it here.

Christmas music makes me nostolgic for Dayton's so I usually avoid it--I actually get sad when I think about the Dayton's name being gone forever from the City of Lakes. But today I am listening to the KWLC show on after mine and she is playing Christmas music and it's making me all warm inside. I feel like I need a seasonal sweater or something.

Last night I went with Murph to see "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" in La Crosse. It was great.

In my anger and haste in publishing my post, I neglected to mention that City Pages ran an interesting article pointing out Madam Secretary's misdeeds (she famously threatened the paper with criminal charges in relation to a voter registration drive they ran at the State Fair). The article is on the City Pages site here.

As an election judge in Minneapolis, I am proud of our system of elections in Minnesota and that we again led the nation in voter turnout in 2004. Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer however is trying to discourage Iowa from adopting a system similar to ours. Madam Secretary (as she insists on being called, in contrast to the more modest officials Minnesotans are used to) has written an editorial in an Iowa newspaper saying that people in Minnesota "get frustrated by lines" cause by Election Day registration and leave the precinct before voting. I wonder exactly how often this happens because if we are leading the nation in turnout, how many people are leaving the polling place? Even if true, I cannot feel sympathy for people waiting an hour to vote, when South Africans waited in line for days to vote in 1994 in their nation's first open and democratic elections. Too bad if it takes an hour or even more if that means that Minnesotans have access to the polls. Democracy is not cheap, and not always convenient. People will have to learn how to deal.

This is another example of Kiffmeyer's incompetence and yet another reason why she needs to be fired in 2006. She is partisan, vindictive and is an embarrassment to our state. Joan Growe, Kiffmeyer's predecessor was known as fair, open, non-partisan and honest in the way she ran elections in our state.